Apparatus for preventing contamination of well liners



E. E. BYRD 2,419,313

APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING CONTAMINATION OFv WELL LINERS April 22, 1947.

Filed Dec. 2, 1943 60 o 6 4 y aod ap f INVENTOR.

Q MW ATTORNEY.

Patented Apr. 22, 1947 2-; 11.1

APPARATUS FOR PREVENTING CONTAMINA- TION OF WELL LINERS Edwin E. Byrd,Midland, Tex, assignor to Stand-- ard' Oil Development Company, acorporation of Delaware Application December 2, 1943, Serial No. 512,586

Claims.

The present invention is directed to an apparatus to be used inproducing well and allows a screen to be placed adjacent a producingformation and then, without disturbing the screen, permits the washingof the formation, initial production of the formation through a by-passuntil the face of the formation is clean and subsequent productionthrough the screen.

The apparatus to which the present application is directed may bedescribed broadly as including a screen or filter with ports allowingthe by-passing of the screen, means bloclnng flow through the screenwhile the ports are open and means controllable by an operator forsimultaneously closing the by pass ports, and removing the blockingmeans from the screen to allow fluid flow therethrough.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention may be seen fromthe following description taken with the drawing in which Figure 1 is anelevation, partly'i-n section, of a preferred embodiment of the presentinvention, arranged in the bottom of a bore hole with a screen adjacenta producing formation, the apparatus being shown in position for washingthe face of the producing formation,

Figure 2 is a View of the same'apparatus after manipulation to allowflow of fluid from the formation through a by-pass in order to clean theface of the formation,

Figure 3 is a view of a portion of the apparatus I of the precedingfigures immediately after the by-passing ports have been closed and theblocking means removed from the screen to allow flow therethrough andFigure 4 is a fragmentary view of the apparatus of Figure 3, showing itin position for producing through the screen.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary View of Fig. 1 somewhat enlarged and showingdetails of construction of the packer; and,

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary view of a portion of Fig. 2 showing enlargedmechanism of the packer with means for holding the packer in setposition. Before discussing the drawing in detail, it'is to be'notedthat the showing of the packer in Figs. 1 and 2 is simplified by theomission of mechanism for holding the packer in set position and that anarrangement to accomplish this purpose i shown in Figs. 5 and 6.

-Turning now specifically to the drawing, and first to Figure 1, thelower portion of a well is defined. by a casing ll provided with acement plug orqseal l2, with the lower end of the casing above producingformation [3. This is a conventional method of completing a well inwhichthe producing formation has sufficient mechanical strength to maintainthe hole open.

Arranged within the lower portion of the bore hole is an embodiment ofthe present invention.

Thi apparatus includes two concentric tubular members, the inner ofwhich will be referred to, for convenience, as the tubing assemblydesignated by numeral l4 and the outer of which as the screen assembly.Beginning from the upper, portion of the tubing assembly shown in thedrawing and reading downwardly, the tubing assembly is provided with aconnecting section, packer sealing tool l1. cleaning port closing tooli8and inverted swab cup [9. Beginning at the upper portion of the screenassembly and reading downwardly this assembly includes a nipple- 5, apacker 2!, a screen member i5 including an imperforate section 6, ascreen section 22, cleaning ports 23, and screen shoe 9 provided withdownwardly projecting blades 10. Sleeve 24 is arranged within screenmember F5 adjacent the screened section and is secured to the screenmember by sheer pins 25.

The packer member is provided with holddown means shown in detail inFigs. 5' and 6 with the parts in Fig. 5 in the same relative positiontohold the packer in the expanded positi'cn.-'

Nipple 5 is also provided with an inwardly pro- .jecting shoulder 3adapted to cooperate with the packer sealing tool ll carried by thetubing assembly. It will be understood that the construction of a packerand packer mounting means is well known to the art and does not initself form any part of the present invention.

The showing of the packer and packer setting means is simplified in thedrawing for the purpose of emphasizing the novel features of the presentinvention; U. S. Patent No. 2,017,434, is

sued October 15, 1935, to Church, shows the construction in detail of asuitable packer and packer settin means.

The connecting section with which tubing assembly I4 is secured toscreen assembly E5, includes a bushing 26 longitudinally movable withrespect to tubing [4 and keyed thereto by spline.

or key 28.

The inner sides of the The'outer surface of bushing 261s. provided with.left-hand threads matingv with car ,3 responding threads 21 with whichthe upper end of screen assembly I is provided. A bushing 29 is securedto tubing l4 below bushing 26 to limit the downward movement of bushing26 with respect to the tubing. A fluid tight seal between the upperportion of the screen assembly and the tubing assembly is secured bygasket 8.

he major weight of tubing i4 is transmitted to the screen assembly bymeans of a bearing assembly, including collar 3B, bearing 3! and annulus32. This allows the left-hand thread connection defined by bushing 26and thread 2'! to be easily disengaged upon turning tubing 14 clockwisewhen the assembly is in the position shown in Figure 1.

Packer sealing tool I! is carried by tubing 14 below the connectingsection and is essentially a latch. When the tubing is withdrawnupwardly, as shown in Figure 2, a face 33 of the latch may be engagedwith inwardly projecting shoulder 34 and the packer set by the weight ofthe tubing. The packer with the parts in the same relative position asshown in Fig. 2 but with the details of the mechanism for retaining thepackerin set position, are shown in Fig. 6. The operation of the packerand packer sealing tool is conventional to the art and, accordingly,will not be further described.

The cleaning port closing tool I8 is a latch constructed similarly tothe packer sealing tool I1. Latch I8 is arranged so that when the tubingis withdrawn a sufficient distance, a face 36 of the latch may engagewith the upper face 35 of sleeve 24 in the manner illustrated in Figure3.

It is preferred to employ the following manipulations when using theapparatus of the present invention to bring a well into production. Theapparatus is assembled, as shown in Figure 1, and lowered to the bottomof the well with the screen member adjacent the producing formation andblades Ill forced into the bottom of the well to hold the screen memberagainst rotation. The well is then washed by circulating a washing fluiddownwardly through tubing I4, out through cleaning ports 23 and upwardlywith the cleaning fluid passing in the annular space between the face ofthe producing formation l3 and the outer surface of the screen.

After the face of the formation has been washed with cleaning fluid aconsiderable amount of foreign material remains in the formation. Thisforeign material is usually removed during the first 24 hours that thewell is allowed to flow. The next step in the use of the apparatus ofthe present invention, is to produce the well through ports and by-passthe screen until the foreign matter, not removed by the washing step, isremoved by the flow of formation fluid into the bore hole.

After the flow of washing liquid is terminated, tubing i4 is rotated tothe right to disengage bushing 26 from threads 21 and the tubing israised toallow face 33 of packer setting tool H to engage with face 34of the packer member as illustrated in Figure 2 The weight of the tubingis then used to set packer 2|, closing the annular space between casingH and screen member I5. After packer 2| has been set, formation fluidmay be produced from formation I3 through cleaning ports 23 and upwardlythrough tubing I4. It is known that at times it is necessary ordesirable to initiate flow from a producing formation by swabbing thetubing, and such a step may be carried out in the apparatus of thepresent invention by swabbing while ports 23 are open. It will beunderstood that while fluid is being produced through cleaning ports 23,flow through the screen is positively prevented by perforated sleeve 24which is secured to the screen by shear pins 25 with the openings in thescreen covered by solid portions of member 24.

After the well has been put into production a sufficient length of timeto remove foreign material from the producing formation, as determinedby the appearance of the oil flowing from the well, the cleaning portsmay be closed and the screen put into service by the followingmanipulations. Tubing I4 is raised until face 36 of latch I8 engages theupper surface 35 of sleeve 24. The weight of the tubing i thentransmitted to latch l1 causing pins 25 to shear and member 24 to movedownwardly until further movement is prevented by screen shoe 9. Whenthis step has been completed, as shown in Figure 3, the openings ofsleeve 24 register with the openings of screen 22 while a wall portionof the sleeve registers with and shuts off flow through cleaning ports23. Tubing l4 may now be drawn upwardly until inverted cup I9 is abovethe screen, this position being illustrated in Figure 4. The well is nowready for producing solely through the perforations of the screen.

In the preceding description I have referred to member 22 as a screenand to member 24 as a sleeve. It is to be understood that both members22 and 24 are perforated tubular members and that either one or theother may be provided with openings of the dimension required for thescreen and the other member arranged to shield the screen openings whilethe well is being cleaned. It will be additionally understood instead ofusing a single tubular member as a screen other types may be used as,for example, concentrically arranged perforated members defining anannulus fill d with granular material.

Having fullydescribed the present invention, what I desire to claim is:

1. An assemb y for use in a borehole comprising, in combination, ascreen assembly including a cylindrical screen member provided with atleast one large and a plurality of small circumferential openings, asleeve carried by the screen member longitudinally movable with respectthereto arranged to expose the large and to close the small screenopenings when in a first position and to close the large and to exposethe small openings when in a second position, a packer carried by saidscreen assembly above said circumferential openings of the screenmember, a tubular memher with at least the lower end thereof arrangedwithin said screen member, and means carried by said tubular memberadapted to engage and move said sleeve from its first position to itssecond position upon longitudinal movement of the tubular memberrelative to the screen member and.

other means carried by the tubular member adapted to engage with thepacker to set it upon longitudinal movement of the tubular member;

relative to the screen member.

2. A borehole tool assembly comprising, in combination, a screenassembly including a screen member provided with at least one large anda plurality of small circumferential openings, a

sleeve carried by said screen longitudinally movable with respectthereto arranged to expose the large and close the small openings whenin a first position and to close the large and expose the small openingswhen in a second position,

a packer carried by said screen assembly above i said openings, a tubingassembly with at least:

its lower end arranged within said screen member, means securing saidtubing assembly to said screen assembly adapted to be released byrelative rotation between said screen assembly and tubing assembly,means carried by said tubing assembly adapted to engage with the screenassembly to set the packer upon longitudinal movement of the tubingassembly relative to said screen member, and other means carried by saidtubing assembly adapted to engage and move the sleeve from the first tothe sec-0nd position upon longitudinal movement of said tubing assemblyrelative to the screen member.

3. A borehole assembly embracing, in combination, a screen assemblyincluding a tubular well screen member provided with at least one largeport and a plurality of small screen openings, a perforated sleeveslidably mounted within said screen member and arranged for longitudinalmovement from a first position exposing the port and closing the screenopenings to a second position closing the port and exposing the screenopenings, shear pins securing said sleeve to said screen member in thefirst position, a packer carried by said screen assembly above saidscreen and port openings, a tubing assembly arranged with its lower endwithin said screen member, releasable means securin said tubing assemblyto said screen assembly including readily disengageable screw threadsand preventing relative longitudinal movement between said tubingassembly and said screen assembly when said screen threads are engaged,means carried by said tubing member arranged to engage with the screenassembly and set the packer upon longitudinal movement of said tubingassembly relative to said screen member, and an outwardly biased latchcarried by said tubing assembly arranged to engage with said sleeve andto move said sleeve from the first to the second position uponlongitudinal movement of said tubing assembly relative to the screenmember when so engaged.

4. A device, in accordance with claim 3 in which the sleeve movesdownwardly from the first to the second position and in which theoutwardly biased latch carried by the tubing assembly engages with theupper end of said sleeve.

5. A device, in accordance with claim 3, in which the sleeve movesdownwardly from its first to its second position, the outwardly biasedlatch is arranged to engage the upper end of said sleeve and a swab cupis carried by said tubing assembly below said outwardly biased latch toseal the annular space between said tubing and the screen assembly.

EDWIN E. BYRD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,384,305 Grotto July 12, 19212,278,246 Cordova Mar. 31, 1942 672,097 Eastman Apr. 16, 1901 1,499,382Layne July 1, 1924 1,664,283 Boynton Mar. 27, 1928 2,156,709 Taylor May2, 1939 2,162,261 Layne June 13, 1939 2,186,488 Johnston et a1. Jan. 9,1940 2,189,702 Burt Feb. 6, 1940 2,318,167 Knowlton May 4, 1943

